Tastes Like Human: A Book Review

Sometimes writing one review will get you a chance to write another. It’s an interesting proposition; the first book tends to tinge the second. That applies to Tastes Like Human: The Shark Guys’ Book of Bitingly Funny Lists. One of the authors offered me a digital review copy because I had reviewed Cracked’s book, and said theirs was similar.

You’re probably at least vaguely familiar with Cracked. The snarky irreverent style – often centered around list-style posts – will simultaneously amuse and inform. And Tastes Like Human does have a lot of list-style entries… and that’s where the resemblance both starts and stops. Tastes Like Human simply tries too hard to be Cracked – and falls short. The snark ventures into mean-spirited instead of staying (mostly) in the absurd. Unlike the Cracked offerings which are unusual, unexpected, and sometimes mind-blowing triva, the factual elements are simply… well, trivia.

I knew pretty quickly that Tastes Like Human was going to fall short of my expectations, but kept coming back to it. I would read a little bit here, a little bit there. (That’s part of the reason it took me so long to write this review.) And that’s when I realized that this book does have a role that it’s perfect for – the bathroom book.

I remember my grandfather had a book like that once (though my grandmother supplanted it with supermarket tabloids). It was something to read while you were on the toilet. Entertaining enough, but not something you’d get sucked into. Tastes Like Human falls squarely in this category, and there it succeeds.